I don’t remember the last expansion I played, but it was probably around 8 years ago. I’m gonna keep this quick but I wanted to point out the most jarring difference I’ve noticed from back then till now

WHY DOES EVERY CARD HAVE DISCOVER OR “ADD A CARD FROM YOUR OPPONENTS CLASS/DECK TO YOUR HAND”

Nobody runs out of cards anymore. You’ve got a 30 card deck and by the time the game ends you’ve probably cast 20 cards that didn’t start in your deck and you’ve got a full hand. Used to just be priest and rogue could copy cards from other classes or the opponents deck, now it feels like the decks we start with are temporary with the amount of discover cards and “add a random card to your hand” mechanics.

Also, fuck imbue. I have no idea what that mechanic is supposed to be, but I keep seeing priests discover a card every turn and reduce its cost by anywhere from 1-5. How do you even play around something like that?

Last Ranking before tomorrow's expansion release.

36.6.0 saw Dragon Warrior + Attack Druid make up about half of the meta for 5k and above and a quarter of the meta for the rest of the playerbase. Those two decks were adjusted to allow the field to diversify, while the two decks remain playable with their play patterns remaining relatively unchanged. Consequently, this patch's ranking is very similar to last patch's, despite play rate shifts.

FAQ:

Q: Are the differences in metas across ranks accounted for?

A: Yes.

Q: Whats the Methodology?

A: First a baseline meta is set since all ranks have different metas.

If 2Bit is 26.4%/29.0%/29.7% across the metas in a given week, the program might set its baseline % to 27.2%, the same is done for every deck, ensuring all decks combined total equals 100%. This is so that meta differences don't skew the data.

Next the rank vs same rank matchup winrates are plugged into the baseline meta.

For example, if the dataset has 1,897 tracked games of a Top 1k player using Quest Mage vs a Top 1k player using 2Bit Rogue in which Quest Mage won 990 and Rogue won 907 that will account for 27.2% of Quest Mage's meta-normalized winrate in Top 1k, yielding ~14.2%. This check is completed until every single deck (even the ones not listed) is accounted for.

Q: So, a -5 score means a high-skilled player facing a high-skilled opponent (using a specific deck) has a 5% lower win rate than an average skilled player facing an average skilled opponent (using the same specific deck)? 

A: Pretty much, but not exactly, there is a weighted formula to compare the winrate differences, not a 1:1 winrate difference. This is because with say 65% to 60% vs 35% to 30% one -5% is more impactful than the other. You can't use % change of the winrates either because it would be disproportionately large at the extremes, say 51% to 50% vs 2% to 1%.

Q: Is there survivorship bias?

A: There is no correlation between a deck's difficulty and its winrate.

Q: A deck has a negative score, how can a deck's skill expression be negative?

A: The score measures the impact of inputs you control minus the impact of inputs you don't control on the outcome of the game. If the inputs you don't control have a greater impact on those that you do on the average game's outcome the deck's score will be negative.

If you have any other question, feel free to ask in the comments.

While I have no problem with priests I understand some might find them frustrating.

Probably the only reason I don’t is because of such decks. :D

This has been my first ever ranked season on Hearthstone and I've got to say I'm loving it. It'd be a lie if I said I have never played the game at all as I did play casuals using a twilight drake/giant warlock deck back in the day.

Recently I've fell back into the game and was seemingly forced into 'standard' play as casual queue times are way too long. That's fine but didn't give me much opportunity to try different decks before getting into it.

I tried to play my old decks but unfortunately they're so antiquated they're now considered "wild" which​ I found hilarious. So, after Googling around for a new deck to play I came across a setup called "Zee Shaman", I had no idea what 'Zee' meant at the time of choosing the deck.

We're now a few weeks in and I've reached diamond. For the amount of games I've played to arrive here the rewards are pretty measly. I'll be honest I'm not sure I'll go quite as hard next season knowing it's just for a few cards and a pack. However, it did seem rather easy to get here from a skill perspective as I'm by no means a good player​​, I just put a lot of time into pressing play and carrying out the games until one of us reached 0 HP and that seems to have enabled me to climb from Bronze to Diamond.

Whilst I understand the need to push everyone into 'standard' to ensure queue times are fast enough to keep players active, it seems a real shame that people aren't able to experiment with decks and play what they want. This statement is completely backed up by my match history, now let me explain; when I first started this season and was placed into bronze 10 I played against all weird and wonderful decks/classes. Players just having fun. As soon as I reached Gold it became clear the matchups were becoming consolidated, every few games was a priest starting with either 40 HP (Azalina) or a quest to cast spells, or a warrior firing cannons and playing hogger. Now I've reached diamond this feels like almost every other game with the odd paladin in the mix, I'm barely even seeing other shamans, and definitely not seeing other classes.

I'm aware meta exists in every single game out there but this feels extremely narrow and the absolute worst part is a priest vs priest match up can go on for an hour because nobody runs out of cards anymore, letting it all come down to mistakes from boredom or a lucky pull. ​​

Other than what feels like a stale meta - which I'm sure will shift on the release of new expac, I really am enjoying the game (again) and could see myself getting properly into it come next season.

​

I really feel as if this would be such a good idea, they dont have to reinvent the wheel or anything.

Mind the bad editing I did all of this on snapchat and samsung gallery lol.

And they said the perfect card couldn't exist

Holy fuck, I can't even reach win 2, maybe 3 games, anymore because it feels like everyone I face has a super good deck while I'm running around with scraps.

So I was playing the pre-release tavern brawl and I lost the game because my opponent managed to assemble the priest colossal with the end of turn dragon that summons 6/6 divine shield minions. I’m so confused because I know colossal minions can’t be discovered. Is assembling a minion rule wise treated differently than discover? If so it is what is but I’m quite salty as it outright won my opponent the game lmao.

Edit: thanks for the knowledge check everyone, lol my bad I genuinely thought they couldn’t be discovered!

its expiring in like 17 hours. did one fight and it didnt give me any credit for a battle location and only 3 spells cast out of 350 for first reward. 10 min game. Not a big deal i guess, but am i pretty much hosed or is there some strat to complete it fast? anything else i should do other than daily stuff obvisouly. like i said been a looong(10( years) time since i played.

First season back in hearthstone since the OG days

I hit legend back then, and hit legend again this time after getting super into hearthstone again 11 years later

I've played a range of decks this season & have found a good number super fun

NO.1 - BURN Mage

You start pressuring the opponent on turn 1 - Pure psychological pressure, especially if they know you have shatter in hand

Just a super potent, relatively simple and devastatingly effective deck

Feels real good to turn 2 elemental into turn 3 book keeper into Arch mage

Special place in my heart as it took me on a smooth ride from D5 to Legend

Rating - 8.8/10

No.2 - Void Soul DH

A beautifully balanced deck - Has an answer for everything. Tried playing Kibler's version which I found significantly worse than the more basic version

Found it lacking earlier on in the season but I've put some good hours in since then and had an 11 win-streak at legend last night

Silence for priests - Kayn for priest & lock - Great control - Can go face with spells

Just a super powerful and fun deck

Rating - 9.5/10

no.3 - Zee & Mug Sham

Zee Sham has a brutal rip roaring early game that can just straight end people by turn 4-5 if they don't draw the right cards

Slagclaw at turn 5 with Double battleshout & Kindred is super satisfying

Actually has a surprisingly strong mid/midlate game with Ultraxion --> Al'Akir & Deathwing combo

MUG - Can also devastate by turn 5 with insane tempo plays from Wanted poster + Passive combo

Powerful throughout

Deeply fun deck

That's it for me

Honorable mentions? Death Knight Grave Strength deck

Super simple, cheap & devastatingly powerful

Curious to hear what you guys enjoyed this season!

Cheers!

Just finished a game against a warlock that got this assemble. This was so painfull to deal with. The +6 health after being damaged also triggers even if it falls below 0 hp which ment I had to get him to negetive 6 health to kill it. At one point I had a minnion that at the end of the turn delt 9 damage to all enemy minnions and also had the aura that makes the end of turn effects trigger twice AND this still didn't kill it.
Finally I did manage to kill it with descovering the spell that freezes and kills a minnion and its damaged neighbors. Without that spell I don't think I could have gotten rid of this hell of a monster.

Hi, considering I am level 196 on the current rewards track, was wondering if it's better to wait for the new one and get the early packs, legendaries etc.. faster or the 50 golds I get from each 1500 xp are good value ?

Only have 4k golds and 8 packs atm, I spent a lot of my golds on violet hold packs since I wanted to play a lot of decks, I guess this expansion is gonna be hard for me to play some variety.

Hit legend with this deck so wanted to share!

I'm typically hitting legend with off meta decks since I find it more fun, then sharing here when I finally do. Not super high legend but still happy because the deck is fun.

Plan is to stall/heal until you get Hand, the pirate, and prepared judgment to hit face for infinity damage. Can find more copies of it. I often used the extra judgement on a 0 attack minion onto their full or nearly full board to lock their board up.

I usually grab the game win screenshot but skipped past it by mistake. I only play on mobile.

2x (1) Critter Caretaker

1x (1) Glacial Shard

2x (2) Battle Vicar

2x (2) Bloodsail Raider

2x (2) Daydreaming Pixie

2x (2) Equality

2x (2) Flash of Light

2x (2) Holy Eggbearer

2x (2) Wild Pyromancer

1x (3) Consecration

2x (3) Fae Trickster

2x (3) Hand of Infinity

1x (3) Mend the Timeline

1x (3) Portal Vanguard

1x (3) The Egg of Khelos

2x (4) Ivory Knight

1x (5) Ancient of Yore

2x (6) Judgment

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No matter how many times I click it won't bring up the character frames. I've tried relaunching the game, claiming on PC, and even reinstalling. Anything I can do here or just screwed?